Looking at Dominika Sadowska's works we automatically want to classify them as portraits. The first look at them makes us believe that we are dealing with real people and that she attempts to depict their individual features. However, the closer we look the more we see that next to the portraits of modern time people, there are faces borrowed from the works of great painters and taken out of a context of a given work (for example, Leonardo da Vinci's or Ian van Eyck's). To see this combination is not an easy task because the characters' faces, both of modern time people and those taken out from portraits, share one feature, that is face expressions which refer to characters' emotions. Sometimes her characters are focused, some other times we witness very strong emotions - fear, astonishment, ecstasy - most of the time, however, we observe expressions of strong passions. Consequently, I believe that Sadowski attempts not only to depict outward appearance of characters but also, and above all, she aims at interpretation of emotions and facial expressions in various situations. It does not matter whether her models resemble the characters depicted in her works. At times, we do not even know who is represented in a portrait. What attracts our attention is inner values of her works. Sadowski exercises a range of artistic methods, to enumerate just few ? changes in lighting, the employment of various colours (sometimes the whole work is defined by one colour), toning down of certain features, or on the contrary, exaggeration in the use of others. Those methods are not employed to intensify the expression of characters' emotions, though. The process is independent of a character's facial expression. Sometimes, one and the same image is presented in a number of works, however, they are depicted by means of different colours. Talking about her works, Sadowska say: I use faces that are >>pulled out<< from different contexts - from paintings, photography, or reality. I make use of a pinhole camera, thanks to which faces are illuminated in a special way, and at times the technique causes unusual deformations.
One might ask about the purpose of her techniques. What was her aim? To my believe, by showing portraits of various people, Sadowska tells about herself. She tells about her fears, moments of happiness, inclinations, her endeavor to discover what really matters in life. I notice her tendency to choose a certain type of people, whether from the paintings of great masters or present day characters. The most characteristic feature of her graphics and photographs is their contemplative quality, an attempt to find the inner truth about herself and human nature. Her portraits bring us closer to the mystery of being, of life, of the unknown which is hidden deep inside, and which is independent of times or conditions people live in. Her works encourage self-examination.